SnowLoadCheck

Box Butte County, NE Roof Snow Load - 20 psf

Box Butte County, NE roof snow load, translated

Moderate
20 psf

A typical heated home in Box Butte County is designed to carry 20 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. 14 psf is what the ground-load formula alone gives; Box Butte County's 20 psf low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) beats it, so that figure is the one that governs on flat and low-pitch roofs.

On a roof that means 44 in. of fresh snow, 16 in. once it packs down, or 4 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Modern-code homes carry a load like this without issue; an older addition, a carport, or any flat-roofed section is where it is worth checking first.

Box Butte County, NE: quick facts

Where Box Butte County ranks

#35 of 93 Nebraska counties by design load, top 40% of 2,758 nationally - that's Box Butte County's spot. Nebraska counties average 20.2 psf; Box Butte County runs 0.2 psf lower than that.

FIPS 31013, population 10,703, centered near 42.2104°N 103.0818°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 20 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 20 psf design figure above.

Box Butte County: average annual snowfall

Box Butte County sees about 45.4 in. of snow most winters, per the HEMINGFORD, NE US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Box Butte County's figure

The figure above assumes the case ASCE 7-22 treats as typical: a heated, ordinary-occupancy home on a partially exposed site. Change any of those - exposure, heating, roof pitch, occupancy category - and the real design number moves.

A building permit needs the number at your exact address, not the county average - the free ASCE 7 Hazard Tool returns that from your coordinates in about a minute and produces a PDF a plan reviewer will accept. See the methodology guide.